3 remaining objectives Carolina Panthers must complete before Week 1

The NFL offseason is winding down. Training camps are entering their final week and the preseason is underway. The Carolina Panthers played their first warmup contest against the New England Patriots. There was no Bryce Young, but plenty of players showcased what they could potentially bring to the roster moving forward.

The game followed an eventful offseason surrounding a full overturn of the upper leadership and installation of a new regime led by head coach Dave Canales and general manager Dan Morgan. The two have been hard at work assembling talent and implementing a fresh offensive playbook to potentially improve the team's fortunes in 2024 and beyond.

Carolina moved their camp from Wofford College in Spartanburg to their team facilities in Charlotte but continued their tradition of leaving portions of practice open to fans and media. Plenty of tapes arose on the team’s new look, and several initial impressions outlined both the good and bad.

Most eyes are on Young. Hopes remain that he can take a major step forward after a 2023 debut that was nothing short of disastrous. Adjacent to him, pundits are looking towards an improved interior offensive line and revamped receiving corps. This will hopefully eliminate the constant debate over how much of the signal-caller's first season was due to his play or the lackluster supporting cast around him.

Canales is expected to call plays this year rather than give the reins to offensive coordinator Brad Idzik. The coach oversaw massive improvements for Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield in consecutive years. He's eager to do the same for Young and unlock some offensive mobility that was completely absent in 2023.

There was far less coaching turnover on the defensive side of the ball, with coordinator Ejiro Evero returning to oversee a unit that ranked No. 4 in average yards allowed per game last time around. The same cannot be said for the players.

Four starters, including most of the team’s sack production, are gone. Little was done to replace them other than hope for in-house improvement - the exception being the addition of Jadeveon Clowney.

Several objectives have been met over training camp, but not everything has been neatly resolved yet. Here are three more objectives the Panthers need to figure out before Week 1 at the New Orleans Saints arrives.

Carolina Panthers' remaining objectives before Week 1

Get healthy

Taking a metric known as 'adjusted games lost', which measures not just the total games missed by players due to injuries but also weighs them based on the injured player’s role with the team, the Carolina Panthers had the third-worst injury luck in the league last season. Injuries are fluky and some hope for a regression towards the median wouldn’t have been unrealistic, but things are not looking promising as the preseason games start up.

Highly touted rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette left practice with a lower leg injury. MRIs came up negative but he wasn't risked for Carolina's preseason curtain raiser. The No. 32 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft joined a startlingly long list of players who got hurt at camp.

• Backup quarterback Andy Dalton is doubtful to play at all during the preseason due to a quad issue.
• Tight end Stephen Sullivan, a fringe roster player who Canales gave praise to at the beginning of camp, is on injured reserve due to a quadriceps injury.
• Continuing the purge of tight ends, Ian Thomas will miss the entire preseason with a calf injury.
• Tight end Tommy Tremble has missed several days of practice with a hamstring issue.
• Safety Sam Franklin Jr. has a broken foot.
• Amare Barno, a contender to start opposite Clowney to open the regular season, was placed on the active/physically unable to perform (PUP) list in July.
• Reserve lineman Yosh Nijman appeared on the PUP list at the same time as Barno.

They join newcomers D.J. Wonnum and Jonathon Brooks, who came to the team amid long rehabs from major injuries. They are not expected to be ready until a few weeks into the regular season.

Injuries are not an offseason killer. Many times, players can make it back on the field.

It gives others who might not ordinarily get a shot a chance to emerge as legitimate contributors - an opportunity Ja’Tavion Sanders seized in earnest. But they can hurt a coaching staff’s ability to know who they have to work with and develop an identity for the team.

Speaking of which…